Years of deprivation, injustice, neglect, forced herdsmen into banditry —Miyetti Allah

National President of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Alhaji Bello Bodejo, says years of deprivation, injustice and neglect of the Fulani herdsmen by successive Nigerian governments forced some of them who feel aggrieved into banditry and take up arms against the government and local communities.

Bodejo who made the claims on Friday while giving a keynote address on the second day of the Fulani interactive policy dialogue and cultural festival with the theme “The future of Fulani pastoralists in Nigeria” held in Abuja, alleged that Fulani herdsmen had been unfairly and badly treated over the years in Nigeria, and many of them who could no longer take the injustice decided to fight back.

“In spite of several complaints and calls for change, no respite came their way, thus forcing the aggrieved ones to retire to the bush from where they periodically express their anger through attacks,” the Miyetti Allah leader said.

“Unarguably, the affairs of the Fulani pastoralists in Nigeria have been relegated to the background with no one talking about issues of concerns that have been raised by the people.

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“No one can doubt our contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria, and yet, Fulani pastoralists have been neglected, relegated and pushed to the wall, hence they are reacting their own way.

“Obviously, the aggrieved Fulani in the bush allegedly making trouble are the ones that might have ran out of patience. If not that I was lucky, I would have been armed with AK-47 rifle or what is more than that; our interest are not considered in the plans of the government.

“For an average herdsman in Nigeria and beyond, his cattle is all he has, in addition to his family. But lately, he has been forcefully dispossessed of his wealth with no justice coming from neither the government nor the communities.

“Many of them have lost their sources of livelihood, family and other inheritances and nothing is being done about it by the government.

“Rather, there are perceived conspiracy between courts, communities and security agencies to profile the herdsmen in order to get justification for their planned terror against them, but it won’t continue anymore,” Bodejo said.

In conclusion, Bodejo said there was need for the government to reach out to the aggrieved Fulani pastoralists, especially through their trusted and reliable channels, traditional rulers and clerics, to make peace.

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